Signs of Love
by Kirabaros
Summary: There are four words in Greek that mean love: agape, eros, philia and storge. These four cherubs talk about what love truly is with a little help from Gabriel. Snippets of Austin and Bobby, Cas and Gabe, Dean and some chick and of course Sam and Angela.


"**Signs" of Love**

It was the best time of year as far as the cherubs were concerned. This was the day that pretty much made the whole year as far as their orders were concerned with regards to love matches. However for the four brothers of whom love was their very name, it was more of a wrestling match over what it meant to love.

"I still say my name is the better form. It really encompasses the true sense of the human expression."

"You mean you glorify sex Eros."

"And you wonder why they have the expression 'loving tyrant', Storge."

"We're brothers."

"Shut up Philia. We know that without you spouting your brotherly love," both Eros and Storge retorted.

"Love is unconditional. That is how Father wanted his creations to see it," the fourth brother Agape said.

Eros gave a look that said his brother was just being crazy. He said, "Agape, passionate love brings out the greatest expressions." When it failed to convince him he sighed, "I give up."

"Why don't you have a contest to see if each of you can convince the entire group what love is," a new voice entered.

Agape and Philia gave genuine smiles and said, "Gabriel!"

Gabriel stood there in front of his cherub brothers with his signature smirk on his face. He happened to be wandering about and he noticed the love fest beginning even though it was the night before the big day. He stood by and watched the cherubs flutter about with the dopey grins of happiness as they carried out their orders. He would never admit it but he was amused by the cherub order of angels. They certainly made life interesting with humans. He said, "So how about it?"

The four brothers looked at each other. Agape surprised everyone and said, "Let's do it."

Gabriel clapped his hands together and rubbed them in pleasure. He knew who Agape had in mind when his turn came up. It would be a nice opportunity to see how that was coming along and he didn't even have to show his face. "Alrighty now we just need something for the road." He gave a snap of his fingers and boxes of chocolate appeared for everyone. Gabriel grabbed his and started in wishing that Castiel were here since he knew Cassy couldn't resist chocolate or any kind of sweet. With a mouthful of chocolate, he asked, "Okay. Who's first?"

~0~0~

_Storge: Natural Affection, Mere Acceptance_

Gabriel stood by plucking out chocolates from his box of candy as Storge took them to the familiar sight of the Singer Salvage Yard. This was going to be good. He was already set with the grin that was threatening to emerge.

Storge ignored everyone as he led them into the main room where the grizzled hunter was holding a conversation with a very amused guest. It was easy for the invisible spectators to see that the guest was a vampire and one that Bobby knew pretty well. Bobby was saying, "I ain't her keeper you stinkin' vamp. You want her to do something you know how to get in touch with her."

The 'stinkin vamp' grinned in humor and said, "I know that Bobby. I just wanted to grace you with my presence. I know that you've been missing me."

"No I haven't. Angie I miss and she's not as half as annoying as you," Bobby grizzled back.

"Oh yes because I actually said I like the idea of chopping off heads."

"No because you're a vamp."

Austin gave a laugh and was joined in by a smirk from Bobby. Austin then said, "How about a drink old man?"

"You better watch it boy. I may be in this chair but I can still hand it to ya."

"I'd love to see you try."

Storge then turned to his brothers and said, "Now you see my brothers. These two are virtually enemies. One is a hunter and the other is the hunted and yet here they are merely accepting each other. Love is a natural affection like what a parent has for a child and it is acceptance like these two have for each other. Any other kind of love plays more on the irrational emotions humans tend to have. Storge as the Greeks used it refers to the love between friends as well as putting up with situations. In this case the vampire and the hunter are friends and it is obvious that they care about each other."

They all turned to see Austin and Bobby share a drink while they swapped a story or two. They nodded as they thought about it except Eros and Agape. Eros was looking bored while Agape was thoughtful but respectful. Gabriel took a bite of chocolate while Eros said, "Like I said before Storge, loving tyrant. I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not convinced."

"A caring friendship is important to the human condition. You shouldn't dismiss it lightly," Agape countered.

Eros shrugged his shoulders. He looked at Philia and asked, "Okay bro. What do you have?"

Philia gave a slow smile as he looked at Gabriel. He gave a snap of his fingers. The next thing they knew, they were in a new location. Gabriel turned to look and saw… _How did they know about that?_

~0~0~_  
><em>

_Philia: Brotherly Love_

Gabriel wanted to hide but hell he was an archangel. He was a class higher maybe two… he always did forget how the hierarchy went but still... He could handle this. Besides he really wasn't that ashamed of admitting how he felt especially to his favorite little bro.

Philia knew that this high definition replay that he conjured up would embarrass the archangel but he had to make his point come across. As his name suggested, it was brotherly love. In general it was a non sexual affection. His favorite pair of brothers was unavailable at the moment but the next best thing and close to home was their brother Gabriel. He said, "Brotherly is non sexual. It is an affection that involves doing well by someone for his own sake and out of concern for him."

Gabriel watched while stuffing his mouth with chocolate. He wasn't exactly sure if he was the kind to show what Philia was describing but he did remember that day pretty well. It was one of those things that she would have said that he did the right thing. _Sis, you have a way of picking em._

It showed Castiel the Angel of Thursday standing on top of a building and staring out in front of him. The angel normally was restrictive in the emotions he showed but this time he looked a little different. He looked a little sad and from Gabriel's view, it looked a little funny since showing emotion wasn't a big thing.

Then Gabriel showed up, "Hey Cassy. What's eating you?"

Castiel turned and looked at his brother with a confused expression. "What would be eating me?"

Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Never mind." Instead he walked right up until he was about arms length away from Castiel and replied, "You're thinking about what happened aren't ya?"

"She told me to get lost and she didn't want to see me again."

Gabriel made a slight noise by clicking his tongue to his teeth. "Cassy you should know by now that she didn't mean it. Hell she told me the same thing years ago and she didn't mean it then either."

"Then why have you remained hidden to her?"

Gabriel looked off to the side as he tried to come up with an answer. "It's more complicated than that but she knows it and I know it and she can always call." That failed to change the expression on Castiel's face. Gabriel sighed, "Look I know what happened and hell I was glad I wasn't there or it would've been like what Raphael did to ya before Dad brought ya back. I would have probably gotten her rescuers and then she would have been something to be pissed about."

"I am her guardian. I should have been there," Castiel replied.

Gabriel knew his brother had got it bad just like he did. "Cassy there is one thing I've learned when it comes to our favorite gal and that is that bad things are going to happen and we don't want them to but they do because she is doing what she does best."

"It was unexpected. She should have called for help."

"Since when have you known her to call for it?" Gabriel countered. "Maybe she thought she should have but she had other things on her mind. I'm sure you've seen it." The look on the angel's face told Gabriel he knew what he was talking about. Gabriel also knew that Castiel was going to be thinking about what happened for a while. He might as well give him a few pointers. "I know that we haven't exactly been chummy the last few centuries but let me give you a few pointers so you can be prepared for next time…"

The replay faded leaving the group in an abandoned building somewhere. Gabriel had managed to finish his box of chocolate. He remembered the incident that occurred that led to his having a brotherly talk with Cassy. They were both screwed in terms of their affections but she just had a way with people. He watched as the cherubs became thoughtful. They had never seen him be that affectionate with any of the other angels. That was because they were mostly dicks.

Eros gave a slight snort, "Okay so brotherly love is something we could all use in a while but come on there has got to be something more to love than a friendship or even brotherly affection. Let me show you what I'm talking about." He snapped his fingers.

~0~0~

_Eros: Passionate Love_

The squeals of the girl left no room for doubt as to what was going on in the room. They were followed by laughter both male and female. The group was outside a motel room and they were peeking in through the window.

If they had been visible, they would have been considered perverts. Hell it wasn't their fault the happy couple decided to play with the curtains open. They watched as a girl laughed as she was chased by a guy. Gabriel recognized this guy very well and couldn't help it, "All right Deano my man!"

The others looked at him and Eros was grinning widely. "See my brothers, passionate love is what love is. The intimacy of it. It is just what these humans strive for. That longing and desire. Gabe you know what I mean."

Gabriel had been watching Dean Winchester having fun with his girl of choice. The guy knew how to pick em. It was worthy of Casa Erotica. He had been ignoring Eros during his explanation. This was the fun part about love. He even contemplated about leaving a trick behind for the elder Winchester but then again to spoil someone's fun on a day like this was just not cool. He replied, "Yeah the passion is there Eros."

The distracted air in which Gabriel uttered it was a disappointment to Eros. He wasn't going to give up yet. He replied, "Alright I get that passionate love doesn't always have to be physical intimacy but hell what Dean is doing in there is a perfect visual display about the intricacies of such physical intimacy."

"It always was about the sex for you," Storge replied.

"I am a passionate guy. Can I help it if I happen to have a strong appreciation for the act of one person making love to another?"

"Just as long as siblings don't do that to each other. That is just… wrong."

"I still can't see why humans can't be content with simple affection."

Gabriel watched as three of the brothers started arguing. It didn't matter that they were watching Dean have fun. Heck the numbskull actually managed to remember to shut the curtains. So that was done. It didn't matter. This had proved to be entertaining, even the part between him and Cassy. So what if they knew where his affections lie. He looked at Agape who was sighing in a patient way. One more definition of love to go. He asked, "Aren't you going to separate them?"

Agape gave a look that was eerily similar to her look when she was humoring a child. Gabriel knew since he had that look given to him on occasion. It was weird though since Agape was male. Agape replied, "Patience Gabe."

Finally the others stopped with their argument when they realized that no one was paying attention to them. Eros said, "Alright Agape. What is your brand of love?"

"What I have been trying to tell you since the beginning. Now I will show you." Agape then snapped his fingers.

~0~0~

_Agape: True and Selfless Love_

This was what Gabriel had been waiting for. He wanted to see how far things had gone since he paid a visit to Sammy a while back. He glanced at Agape and gave a nod of approval. He stood with the cherub while the others watched.

The Impala was sitting out in the middle of a field. The driver got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. He reached in and helped out the passenger who gripped his hand in complete trust. She said, "Now can I take it off Sam?"

"Not yet, Angie," Sam replied as he guided her to the hood of the car.

"I still can't believe Dean let you have the keys."

"Dean's having too much fun to notice," Sam replied, "Besides all I had to do was ask." Sam paused a moment before asking, "Can I pick you up?" He made a face, the kind he got when he was uncomfortable with asking something that was borderline personal and the whole personal space thing that Dean was adamant about.

Angela stood there with the blindfold on and was smiling. "You know you don't have to ask Sam. I mean you've done it before but if you want my permission then yes you can pick me up. Just don't drop me." She smirked at him as she said that. To show that she meant it, she relaxed as she stood there.

Sam picked her up and sat her on the hood. He went to the rear passenger window and pulled out a long box and placed it in her lap. "Alright you can take it off."

Angela pulled off the blindfold and looked down to what Sam had placed in her lap. She looked at him and he indicated that she should open it. Slowly she did and seeing what was in it she looked at Sam and asked, "You didn't?"

"Bobby helped me talk to a few of your friends and they managed to get it here. I know that you wanted to see that aurora borealis that was supposed to show and a tonight a rare constellation was supposed to occur. I thought maybe…"

"Thank you Sam," Angela replied placing a hand on his shoulder. She had never mentioned it to anyone about the borealis appearing. Bobby thought it might have been an omen and Dean wasn't really in the mood for a lot of things lately. Sam must have noticed her studying the weather patterns and the electromagnetic storms that had occurred.

"I wanted to do it for you." Sam picked up the hand she had placed on his shoulder and held it in his hands.

Angela smiled as she held the old telescope in one hand and he held the other. Nothing more was said as she showed him how to set up the telescope and they took turns looking through it. At one point she was laughing because she muttered one of her raunchy rhymes and had Sam blushing even though he thought he was used to them by now.

Agape turned to look at his brothers. He was pleased that they were watching the pair intently. His eyes lighted on Gabriel and he asked the archangel, "You had this planned for some time didn't you? This competition."

Gabriel watched the pair apparently happy. Sammy had taken his advice and she had bitten. He knew it but he could also see that they were not quite at that stage where they openly said the words. That was how relationships were built. He looked back at Agape and replied, "I got a little bit of Philia's mojo for her. I just want to make sure she's happy." He turned to look back and the both of them were staring up at the sky. She was pointing out constellations.

Agape nodded just as Eros turned and in his usual fashion, "Well I'm a little bit disappointed that there wasn't even a kiss involved…" He frowned as Philia chuckled when he saw Sam place a tentative kiss on Angela's cheek. He continued, "But I got to hand it to you Agape. You are right."

"Agape refers to true and unconditional love. The selfless act of giving of oneself with no conditions attached. Amazing how not even one of the other cherubs had been given orders for this," Philia said.

"This love involves all kinds: the friendship, the brotherly, the passionate and the true. It is what Father has given to all," Agape explained. He didn't mind that Gabriel wasn't paying attention. He knew the archangel knew this very well. "As Father's servant Paul said: Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way and it endures through every circumstance." Agape nodded to the pair, "They will endure much and already have. Three things will last forever—faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love."

With that all the cherubs nodded in agreement. Agape had reminded them of what it meant to love. It would certainly put a perspective when they carried out their orders. They all left until Agape and Gabriel remained. Agape said, "Thank you brother for thinking of this."

Gabriel looked at the cherub and replied, "It was nothing much."

Agape gave a knowing smile. He said, "They haven't been touched by any of the arrows."

"I know," Gabriel replied. "As you said, the greatest of all things is love."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Happy Valentine's Day folks! This gem hit me this morning as I was thinking about love and I remembered my Monday Bible study lesson about love and something I heard about the four Greek words that mean love. So here I present Agape, Eros, Philia and Storge. All mean love but different kinds of love.

**A/N2:** Bible reference is 1 Corinthians 13:4, 7, 13.


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